The official website of fantasy author Matthew Roys. Home of Thorns of the Shadow and The Sword Summoner books.

Reflections on polerizing politics.

Yesterday an alt-right protest in America led to an act of terrorism where life was lost. Society is split between the two political spheres and the rift is widening by the day. Things need to change.

I have spoken out about the far left of politics several times over the last few years, calling out the ideologies of the hyper offended and perpetual victims. I have disagreed with branches of feminism and I have stood with freedom over feelings.

I have done all of this from my position as a left-wing liberal myself because I have always believed that we need to hold our own groups to account and work hardest to call out those who claim to hold similar sentiment while acting in a damaging manner. I have been vocal against the left because I belong to the left and don’t want to see it be warped into something I no longer recognise.

Rarely have I spoken out about the right. Usually I have been of the opinion that it is the escalation of left-wing beliefs that resulted in an escalation in right-wing beliefs as left/centrists like myself were pushed away over the smallest of disagreements, and I still believe this is a factor. I didn’t speak out about them because, in all honesty, I couldn’t begin to understand how they could hold such views. I can’t empathise with the further right because, in my own head, they act from selfishness, greed and illogical values that I feel no morally and intellectually sane person would hold.

How can anyone support Donald Trump? How can anyone believe that women and non-white races are not our equals? How can anyone believe that the poor should be left to die if they can’t afford healthcare? I never made a point of explicitly fighting these ideas because they are so damn stupid that I believed they spoke for themselves and would repulse any who heard them.

It seems this isn’t the case though. Both political poles are going to ever further extremes and the centre ground is being eroded. The sides are so far apart that we are seeing a society that no longer knows how to rationally connect with itself and is increasingly becoming venomous. Ideas have been weaponised and the two sides are clashing on every single issue.

It has gone beyond the thoughts and actions of leaders now. This problem is going to continue to spiral out of control whoever gets into power. If you think that Trump leaving the presidency is going to make everything better than I’m afraid you’re in for a rough time. Politics and society has become too fractured and we are seeing this all across the western world.

Every single person is now either hyper-politisised or completely apathetic. We are a melding pot of barely concealed conflict and all it will take is one spark to ignite. Unless people on both sides reel in their emotions, we will see clashes and riots more and more.

No side is wholly correct. Both have crippling flaws. Pragmatism and logic should always be used where possible. Politics is an instrument to manage a country in a way that is best for the majority of the population, not a tool to be warped into pseudo religions to push bias beliefs and ideals.

If the silent majority that sits in the centre ground doesn’t call out the extremes of both political wings then society will break and we will wake up to tragedies that we believed had been left safely in the past.

We are all humans walking across the same earth with the same sky above our heads. Look for that which we have in common. Don’t let all that we hold dear crumble just because you don’t agree with how money should be spent, what folk do in the privacy of their own homes or which imaginary sky fairies they believe in.